The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus, and more particularly relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus for processing color films or color prints in which a solid processing agent is used for replenishing the processing agent.
As a means for making an automatic developing apparatus compact and also as a means for maintaining the environment to be clean and for saving natural resources by reducing an amount of use of plastic containers, techniques are disclosed, by which a processing agent for replenishment is condensed and solidified. For example, the technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection No. 5-107712.
However, when a solid processing agent for replenishment is used, several problems may be encountered, and one of the problems is that the concentration of a processing solution can not be stabilized. In the case of a liquid processing agent for replenishment, the processing agent added into a processing tank is mixed with the existing processing solution when the processing agent is sent into a circulation passage. Therefore, the concentration can be made uniform in a short period of time, so that the concentration of the processing solution can be stabilized. On the other hand, in the case of a solid processing agent for replenishment, the processing agent charged into the processing solution is gradually dissolved. Therefore, the concentration of the processing solution is changed until the dissolution is completed. For this reason, the solid processing agent is disadvantageous in that the processing performance is difficult to be stabilized. Further, when the dissolution time is longer than the minimum time of the charging interval of the processing agent for replenishment, the solid processing agent for replenishment is accumulated in the processing tank.